How to get your cash advance fee back from Visa when purchasing on coinbase (from Jan. 2018 - Feb. 2018)

The point of this post is educate people like me about the cash advance fee credit cards now charge for coinbase purchases and a little about the double billing people got on their credit cards at the end of Jan. 2018. And maybe to help some people get some of their money back like I did. I had a hard time finding lots of info about it because I’m sure the hardcore crypto bloggers/ youtubers don’t use coinbase. I’m just going to try and make this post short and concise, but it may end up long, so bear with me. Earlier I posted about Visa (and mastercard) now charging a 5$ cash advance fee for purchases on coinbase. Some quick background information on me, I’m Canadian, therefore my credit card is Canadian. I live outside N.A. so there is no toll free number for me to call if I have questions or problems (Just one of many shortcomings with these credit cards.). This resulted in me asking via e-mail and thus I have copies of their responses of which I will put here.

My understanding of what happened was that Visa recognized people were buying crypto currency via coinbase. Visa changed coinbase from a regular merchant to one that supplies cash-like products and is thus subject to a cash advance fee. In doing this it went back and charged people for again for previous purchases. They realized that this resulted in double charging so they quickly corrected it, however the “cash advance” fees (at least in my case) still got applied to the reversed transaction. WTF? I have to pay a fee on a mistake visa made? They reference how what they did is ok, its in the fine print…. Ya ya I acknowledge that, in my opinion it is kind of immoral and not a good way to treat your customer, but yes that’s fine. So here is the first e-mail they sent me when I asked about where these fees came from as I honestly had no idea and it just said cash advance fee.

Hello Customer,

Thank you for connecting with us, I'm more than happy to help.

Firstly, I'd like to clarify that a cash advance means a transaction where you withdraw cash from the account including through:

• any device such as an automated teller machine (ATM), phone, online or mobile device
• our branches and at other financial institutions
• a Balance Transfer
• a TD Visa Cheque
• a Cash-Like Transaction

Cash-Like transaction means a transaction to purchase items that are similar to and can be converted into cash. Cash-Like Transactions include casino gaming chips, money orders, wire transfers, travellers cheques and gaming transactions (including betting, off-track betting and race track wagers).

I have reviewed your account and I can see that your "Coinbase" transactions are triggering this fee. Regrettably, these are considered cash-like transactions and you will be charged a cash advance fee and cash advance interest for these transactions.

This information is outlined in your cardholder agreement; therefore, I'll attach a link to that document so that you have a copy for your records:

I hope you find this explanation helpful. Thanks again for your message. Thank you as well for your continued business with TD - we appreciate your loyalty and hope to continue to work with you for years to come. If there's anything else I can do to assist you, please don't hesitate to reach out.

**Please note that all fees/rates are subject to change. Please confirm the fees/rates with your local branch/EasyLine/EasyWeb at time of the transaction

Regards,

Krista I Digital Communications I TD Bank Group
TD Canada Trust 1-866-222-3456
TDD (Telephone Device for the Hearing Impaired ) 1-800-361-1180
Follow TD_Canada on Twitter
Become a TD Fan on Facebook
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Ok, so I see what they did, I tell them I’m not happy with it, but yes they won and screwed me out of some money (which they’re “allowed” to do), but why was I charged the fee during the incorrect charges? (by the way I don’t have copies of what I specifically wrote for some reason, only their responses). This was their response and I’ll have a lot to say about it after.

Hi Customer,

Thank you for taking the time to write back.

Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in responding; we've recently received a higher than anticipated number of messages and working diligently to respond as quickly as possible.

Although I can certainly see how you would see this as a new change, since you have not been charged the Cash Advance fee for Coinbase purchases in past, the fees should have been charged for past transactions.

Cash-Like transactions have been applicable and a fee applied for at least the past 5 years. Not being charged the Cash Advance fees in past is a system glitch on our side. The only difference is that the error has been stopped and charges applied.

You can review the terms around Cash Advances and Cash-Like transactions with your cardholder agreement with this link, which you will need to copy and paste into your browser

I have located X Cash Advance fees (dates). The fee on this date was from the Coinbase transaction on this date (on your statement). On your most recent statement there are X $X fees from transactions on date, date and date. It appears Coinbase charged for X transactions which were later credited back to you. However, since they charged your card it caused X Cash Advance fees.

Since I understand that 2 of these transactions were reversed and we value your continued business and loyalty throughout the past X years I have credited the X Cash Advance fees back to your account on an exception basis. Please allow 3-5 business days for the credit to be posted.

The interest charge you have noted in your account is Cash Advance interest. Cash Advance and Cash-Like transactions are not subject to a grace period like purchases. Interest begins to accrue immediately. This information is also located within your cardholder agreement.

Although I understand this may not be the information you were hoping for. I trust you will find it helpful. I hope you have a nice weekend.

1.) The fees should have been charged in the past? What kind of company are you running that you are missing major fees? Not being charged in the past was a glitch? Aren’t you a huge bank? You have glitches lasting this long in your system? Really?

2.) They act like they are doing me a favour for giving me back the money for the reversed transaction. They are implying that coinbase double charged? My understanding was that Visa was the one to blame. To me this is kind of an admission of guilt.
I’ve sent them back an e-mail kind of pointing out these two points with no response back. Anyways my goal here was to educate people and maybe help people get at least some of their money back as I did. Please comment if you can shed some life on the situation, if this helped you at all or if you were also able to get some money back as well. Good luck!